Static and Dynamic Implications on Public Opinion: A Hypothetical Application

While beginning this week’s readings, I had in mind the recent news that Sally Mason, University of Iowa President, had zealously approved spending around $160,000 on two “communication experts.” This news, in light of furloughs and budget cuts on campus, as well as the abbreviated, strained economy of the country, shocked me quite a lot. How could two individuals garner such salaries for a mere period of months? Though I cannot fully wrap my mind around the necessity or justification of such a paycheck on either the behalf of the University nor the “experts,” it is undoubted that the University will be laying great emphasis on relaying information to the public from here on out. Mason cited last summer’s flood as one of the general factors for the growing importance to explore the intricacies of communication, or more likely, to spin a more positive light around the University during this sensitive time of rebuilding.
To my knowledge, there has not yet been a poll conducted on the campus or in the Iowa City area that would display the community’s reaction towards, or support of, the matters embedded in this communication issue, but it would surely prove revealing for the newly hired “experts,” perhaps more carefully guiding future statements and releases from the University. In Kennamer, chapter 9, “The Spiral of Silence: Linking Individual and Society Through Communication,” authors Salmon and Moh address the issue of public opinion and the gravity, or lack thereof, of its effects. Depending on the prescribed implications of public opinion, the results of a poll, like those that might be gathered in response to the University’s actions on communication, can be valuable in different ways, of course.
Abiding by several influential factors, there are two possible modes of public opinion: static and dynamic. A static public opinion is one which is influenced by the popularity of one’s own views according to how these views align with the rest of society. If these views are unlikely to be shared by others as a whole, they are likewise unlikely to be expressed in the first place. A dynamic climate of public opinion is one which analyzes data in a different fashion to determine that the unpopular, or not widely held belief, will slip away from the scope of public thought.
Considering these implications for public opinion, one might naturally connect the consequences of static or dynamic outcomes with the experience of being outcast and isolated. It is very human and natural to feel reluctance or level of anxiety in terms of going against the “norm” or accepted. This too, applies to situations of simply voicing an idea. Focusing on this small sample of consequence and outcome, it becomes a bit easier to approach such a hypothetical polling case which might involve the earlier news item of topics pertinent to our immediate community: University spending and the actions of Sally Mason. Understanding how popular public opinion operates, if a majority of students, faculty, or Iowans were against Mason’s communications approval, the environment would allow for even more expressions of unrest or dissatisfaction, putting the University, Mason, and these newly hired communication “officials” in a difficult position of response.